UP farmers welcome HC ruling on cane price

The farmers in Uttar Pradesh have welcomed the Allahabad High Court judgment, dismissing the Indian Sugar Mills Association’s (ISMA’s) petition that challenged the sugarcane price announced by the state government for this crushing season.

A division bench comprising Justices Arun Tandon and Dilip Gupta had yesterday rejected the petition filed on November 4, 2008.

“We welcome the high court order and thank the judiciary,” Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told Business Standard.

He claimed that in light of the decision, more farmers would be willing to opt for sugarcane cultivation next season.

Several farmers opted for other cash crops due to dispute, delayed payment and multiple litigation over cane price in the last couple of years, bringing cane production down by 20 per cent this year.

Observing that the state was the best judge to evaluate cane price, the bench said the petitioner had failed to substantiate that the government had acted arbitrarily in fixation of price.

Further, the association could not satisfy (justify the fact) the court that they were running in losses to afford the cane State Advised Price (SAP), the court said.